Paul VK3HN's Portable Rig

Nice work Paul. 

VK3HN's AM Pulse Width Modulated Homebrew Transmitter

I'm still working on trying to match the excellent results Paul achieved with his AM receiver.  Then this morning I wake up to a Hack-A-Day article describing his even more impressive achievement with his AM transmitter.  

There was one line from the Hack-A-Day article that made me think of Pete Juliano: 

Younger hackers will note the Arduino Nano at the heart of the project, running the VFO and handling all the relevant transmit/receive switching. We can only imagine how welcome modern microcontrollers must have been to old hands at amateur radio, making synthesizing all manner of wild frequencies a cinch.

Indeed.  

And once again this story about Paul's AM operations has made me jealous of the obviously great AM homebrew culture that exists in Australia. 

FB Paul! 

Santa Came to SolderSmoke! From Australia!

Oh wow!  Santa Claus made a really long distance DX trip to SolderSmoke's East Coast HQ last night.   His chief Elf this time was Peter VK2EMU who crafted the AMAZING Morse key you see in these pictures.  This is truly a work of art.  I will indeed put it on the air with a homebrew transmitter.  And we will keep on soldersmoking.  

Thanks very much Peter.  This was really great.  

Merry Christmas to all!  

VK3HN's Inspirational AM Receiver (video)

I'm always delighted when I check the SolderSmoke blog and YouTube list (right hand column of the blog) and find a new post from Paul VK3HN.  And this morning's post is especially good. 

Paul has built an AM receiver. Above you can see his video.  Here is his blog post with details: 
https://vk3hn.wordpress.com/2019/12/06/8-band-superhet-am-receiver/

This is the kind of blog post that makes you want to heat up the soldering iron and start searching through the junk box.  I'm thinking about putting Paul's 6 kHz filter in my 40 meter HRO-ish receiver.  And I may make use of his AM detector circuit.  And maybe I can put that same receiver on 75 and 160... And then there are the SW broadcast bands... See what I mean?  

Thanks Paul.  73  

Melbourne Australia -- QRP By the Bay 2019

Each November, Peter Parker VK3YE and his ham colleagues from Melbourne share with us reports on Peter's annual "QRP by the Bay" event.   

I think VK3HN should seek a trademark for that hat.  As soon as I saw it on the table in the video above, I knew these were Paul Taylor's rigs.  FB Paul.  Here is Paul's report: 

https://vk3hn.wordpress.com/2019/11/02/qrp-by-the-bay-chelsea-beach-melbourne-2nd-nov-2019/

Great work guys.  Thanks a lot.  73 

The Collins Mechanical Filter -- An Advertisement from Australia, 1963

Peter VK2EMU sent me this ad a while back.  He said he regretted being unable to send a filter -- all he could send was the ad.  Thanks Peter -- I think that ad is a work of art.  Radio art. 

Thanks too to all those who sent me mechanical filters.  Pete sent the first one (it is currently in my HRO-ish receiver), then two more (both inside SBE transceivers, where they will remain -- it would be a sin to cannibalize those beautiful rigs.)  Then Mike Herr WA6ARA sent one as did Brad.    Brad assures me that the one he sent was boxed up by Art Collins himself! 

Thanks again guys. 

Brad wrote: 

To:soldersmoke@yahoo.com

Jun 23 at 7:49 AM

Kudos to Pete for 60 years! And I've always thought he was much younger than you......

Catching up on your podcast, I was surprised to learn that no one answered your call for a spare filter.  

I'm one of those older guys who is making his way back after leaving amateur radio in 1968 for girls and/or recreational drugs.

No one told me that The Force (electro-motive, that is) would require me to catch up on all the junk I would have acquired during my nearly 50 years away from the hobby (see list below).

A recent impulse purchase, the most beautiful thing with tubes ever made (SX-42), happened to be near Newington.  On the way home I visited ARRL HQ hoping they had some sort of a chapel where I could perform an act of penance and ask for guidance in dealing with my affliction.   Apparently, this is the equivalent of asking a crack dealer where the closest Narcotics Anonymous meeting is held. I ended up buying a copy of "200 Meters and Down" and have since acquired a couple of Atwater Kent projects. 

My place is full now, and my sweetheart would like back the half of her garage I've slowly taken by electronic eminent domain.   It seems that for every 100 pounds that departs to a ham fest, 125 pounds comes back.  Is this considered a normal ratio?

In order to be able to tell her that I have, indeed, gotten rid of something, I'll be sending you a F 455 filter (QRZ address OK?).

Thanks for you help,

--Brad 

Another Amazing Rig from VK3HN (Video) (EI9GQ Design)

Another Amazing SSB Rig: VK3HN's "Summit Prowler 6"

Here is another truly amazing compact SSB rig.   Paul Taylor VK3HN is a true homebrew wizard.  So many great homebrew rigs come out of Australia.   

More details: 

https://vk3hn.wordpress.com/2019/05/01/summit-prowler-6-a-pocket-sized-ssb-cw-transceiver-for-80-40-30-and-20m/

Paul's QRZ.com page: 

https://www.qrz.com/db/vk3hn

The CHIME Radio Telescope and Fast Radio Bursts

The new Canadian radio telescope is very interesting.  It has a great name for a radio telescope:  CHIME  

And it it always nice to come across a reference to the Parkes Radio Telescope.  

More info here: 

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/03/fast_radio_burst/

And here: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_radio_burst

Good luck on getting a QSL from the FRB station.

VK2BLQ's Beautiful uBITX in a Wooden Box

Now that, my friends, is a BEAUTIFUL uBITX.  Stephen VK2BLQ put that one together.  Peter VK2TPM helped him get the KD8CEC software into his Raduino (Stephen had trouble  getting it to compile on his Raspberry Pi).  

For me there is good news and bad news here.  The bad news is that I can no longer tell people that mine is the only "wooden box" rig that they will ever work.   The good news is that I am no longer alone. 

F5LVG's Nail Board Receiver -- Names for the Technique

Pete WB9FLW reminds us that Olivier F5LVG has LONG been using copper nails and wood boards to build amazing rigs.  See above for one magnificent example.  That, my friends, is a superhet receiver.  Inspirational! 

http://oernst.f5lvg.free.fr/rx/Super2016/RXSuper2016.html

http://oernst.f5lvg.free.fr/rx/Super2016/RXsuper2016En.html

http://www.stormwise.com/ampage1.htm

A few posts back we asked for nominations for the official name of this technique.   We still have to consult with Steve Silverman on this, but the nominations are: 

Armand WA1UQO (perhaps reflecting his proximity to Washingotn DC)  "Wire-Tapping" 

Gary Hinson:  "Coffin Dodging"  (sounds a bit dodgy to me). 

And the front runner so far, from Melbourne, Australia -- drum roll please: 

Peter Parker:  "NAILBOARDING."  (Peter thinks he nailed it with that one.  I tend to agree.)  

VK3YE QRP by the Bay Goes VHF/UHF

Peter Parker again hosted the VK3 radio amateurs.  This time the event fell on VHF/UHF Field Day weekend.   So Peter and his friends went up in frequency and up into SPACE!  

VK3HN has a nice blog post here:

https://vk3hn.wordpress.com/2017/11/25/qrp-by-the-bay-chelsea-beach-melbourne-25-11-2017/

Be sure to read about Peter's ankle manacles -- he apparently uses them to get a good ground (sea) plane while running pedestrian mobile on the sea shore. Peter is DEDICATED! 

Ham Radio, Dilbert, Dating, and the Baofeng Breakup

Was the young lady turned off by his obvious "appliance op" status? Was it the Baofeng?  Would he have fared better with a homebrew rig? 

Dilbert addressed the relationship between ham radio and success in the dating game: 

I blame Peter VK2EMU for this digression. 

Knack Victim Makes Good! Alan Yates in Seattle

Jean Shepherd used to say that in life, many of us come to a fork in the road:  down one path lies success.  Down the other, ham radio flea markets.  Alan Yates is proving Shep to be WRONG. 

I have fond memories of Billy and I building many versions of Alan's trivial electric motor.   We look forward to his virtual reality.  

AE7KI (VK2APG), FT8, and WAS on a BITX20

I've had several very nice conversations with Gerry AE7KI (aka VK2APG).  His Australian accent sets him apart from the other Tennessee stations.  Last time we talked Gerry mentioned having competed Worked All States with his BITX20 (below). Very cool.

Gerry also alerted me to a new digital mode created by Joe Taylor.  This one is called FT8.  Gerry is using it to good effect on the 6 meter band. Here is Peter Marks' initial reaction to FT8:

http://blog.marxy.org/2017/07/new-weak-signal-mode-ft8.html

As I type, there are 252 stations monitoring 6 meters for FT8 signals.   You can see a map displaying these stations here: 

https://pskreporter.info/pskmap.html

Fast Radio Bursts and the Molonglo Radio Telescope (with video)

7,744 circular dipoles on 843 MHz  feeding 176 preamplifiers and 88 IF amplifiers!

Read about how the Molonglo Radio Telescope has recently been used to study the mysterious Fast Radio Bursts:
http://www.sciencealert.com/confirmed-mysterious-radio-bursts-detected-by-astronomers-really-are-coming-from-outer-space

There is a Grote Reber connection:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molonglo_Observatory_Synthesis_Telescope

Walter KA4KXX's "Al Fresco" Oz DSB rig with VFO Mod

A while back we ran a post about the MDT 40 DSB rig out of Australia. Walter KA4KXX liked the design so much that he built his own version and, with it, made his first homebrew phone contacts. I always say that DSB is a great way to break into the world of microphones.  Walter is obviously on the right path -- not only did he come up with a nice Al Fresco DSB rig, but he modified the VFO to get additional coverage and to incorporate a frequency counter.  FB Walter!

Walter KA4KXX writes:

Since I earned my Ham Radio license in about 1979, I have always operated only on CW since I like to build all my own equipment, but recently at the SolderSmoke website I discovered the MDT 40 Meter DSB Transceiver, and decided this was the design I had always been looking for to finally build and operate on phone.

After I made my first phone contact after only 5 minutes of trying, just a few weeks ago, I was so excited I sent an email thanking designer Leon of ozqrp.com.

Then I modified the VFO further to cover the entire 40 meter USA General Class License phone band, which is 7.175 – 7.300, in two overlapping steps.  I also added a 5K fine frequency adjustment, used a more friendly 1SV149 Varactor diode which I purchased on EBay at very low cost, and also added a high impedance buffer (found at the website listed below) to the VFO to drive a frequency counter.
 
http://www.arising.com.au/people/Holland/Ralph/buffer/highimpedanceprobe.htm

I was able to implement these modifications very easily since I always make my own un-crowded state-by-stage Manhattan style circuit boards and build first on a breadboard.
So far I am very pleased with the results.

Walter KA4KXX

Peter Parker VK3YE on Vintage Gear (in his new book!)

Homebrew Hero Peter Parker has a new book on the market.   I was really taken by his description of the joys of restoring older gear.  Peter really nails it.   Here is an excerpt:

Vintage Equipment

     The collection, restoration and use of historical equipment is another movement in amateur radio.  The musty smell of warming dust, the heavy clunk of rotary switches and the velvet smoothness of precision tuning drives are joys of every use.
     Such sensuality is absent from modern plastic-fronted, wobbly-knobbed transceivers.  Old rig cabinets felt they had something in them.  A kick would hurt you more than them.  And etched panel markings confirmed they were built to last.
    Unlike today’s dainty push buttons with stunted travel and disembodied beep, toggle switches showed you where they stood.  Weight, life and play made adjusting controls for nulls and peaks (as often required) both a pleasure and occasional frustration.  Even if only as mechanical backlash on a bad tuning dial, it was as if the equipment was telling you something, like a ridden horse does through its reins.  Not like newer gear’s lack of tactility which is like a ‘dead fish’ handshake, all take and no give.
    There are psychic as well as physical joys.  The thrill of bringing neglected or dead equipment to life drives many.  It’s an underestimated skill.  You start with nothing and almost anything done represents progress when building from scratch.  Whereas with a repair it is very easy to render something that’s 80% good completely useless with a careless drop or slip.

More about ‘Getting back into Amateur Radio’ is at
http://home.alphalink.com.au/~parkerp/gettingback.htm 
& the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ktP5K4x-I

VK4FFAB's FB Intro to LTSPICE

Rob VK4FFAB wrote a really nice series on how to get started with the LTSPICE circuit simulator.  I'm sure these articles will also have a lot to offer for those of us who've been using LTSPICE for a while now.  Thanks Rob!  

Rob's articles can be found here:

http://vk4ffab.info/lt-spice-for-radio-amateurs/

VK2EMU's Biscuit-Tin Direct Conversion Receiver

Bill and Pete:

First Sound

The enclosure came first, then the radio. The Homebrew challenge - build something in a Christmas Biscuit tin - only one rule, no mains power.

Step one - eat the contents.

VK2WI is an Australian version of W1AW and transmits weekly new bulletins on a number of bands from 160m to 23cm. On 80m the frequency is 3595kHz, so let's build a DC receiver for that.

I used a 7190kHz crystal, divided by 2 with a 74HC74 to get 3595kHz. The rest of the radio is pretty standard - double tuned front end, NE612 mixer, followed by a TL071 and a LM386. The reduction drive on the tuning cap gives a band spread of about +/- 300Hz.

The boards are all 2 inch x 2 inch and made on a PCB mill that I was given a few years ago. 

There should be enough room in the bottom of the tin a pack of 8 C cells to make the radio truly portable. Next step is to fit an audio low pass filter.

It is a pleasure to sit on the rear porch and listen to the Sunday night broadcast on a home brewed radio, while eating the contents of another identical tin - I wonder what I will do with that one?

73  Peter VK2EMU